poison ivy
Well-known member
With my first (and easy) winter hike of the year under my belt, I was ready to tackle something a little more difficult. So, I decided to try hiking the Franconia Ridge loop and was able to rope Pedxing into coming along. We headed up to the parking lot and were on the trail at 8:30 a.m. after deciding to leave our snowshoes in the car based on prior trip reports.
While it was a little cooler than on Saturday, the day was just gorgeous with plenty of sun shine popping through the trees as we headed up the Falling Waters Trail. Dry Brook was iced over and we had no trouble walking across, though the ice had that scary hollow sound, there was no creaking or popping. The trail was well packed with a good crust on top of it. However, there were plenty of icy patches, so we decided to put on the crampons at the base of Stairs Falls just to be safe.
Pedxing was very patient with my picture taking as I took shots of all the beautiful waterfalls. Cloudland Falls was definitely the prettiest with a snowy arc around the rushing water. Even more beautiful were huge icicles hanging over boulders at the side of the waterfall. With crampons on, we had little difficulty on the icy trail, though our pace was somewhat slow. Perhaps the busy weekend had drained me more than I thought, because I was walking slow even for me and Pedxing waited for me several times to catch up. The trail seemed much steeper than the last time I hiked it, that’s for sure!
We stopped just below treeline to put on an extra layer of clothing, noting that there was an occasional gust of wind. We reached the top of Little Haystack at about noon to find that the clouds were far above the peaks and were not dark. The views were just incredible. I could see snow-covered ski slopes behind the Kinsmans and Cannon (which I am thinking must have been Vermont) and snow-covered Mount Washington glowing behind the Pemi.
Enjoying the views, we headed up Mt. Lincoln, glad to have crampons for hiking along the icy ridge. As we crossed over the summit, the gusts of wind started to pick up a bit so we quickly headed for Lafayette without stopping. After three-quarters of the way up Lafayette, the wind became so steady and strong that I occasionally had to stop walking to steady myself. Despite wearing a balaclava and a wool hat, my left ear started to get very cold so I hurried on as best I could.
At the summit of Lafayette, we hunkered down behind some rocks for a very short snack break (along with three other hikers and their pup) before hightailing off the mountain as quickly as we could. Descending down the north side of Lafayette was definitely the scary -- we estimated that the wind was blowing at least 50 miles per hour, sometimes straight into our faces and sometimes to our sides as we followed the line of cairns down the Greenleaf Trail. With snow blowing into my face, I stopped to put my goggles on and it felt like my trekking poles would just fly away in the wind if I didn’t have them strapped to my wrist. The wind would occasionally knock me aside, so I would have to take a step or two off the path in order to regain my balance. I didn’t feel completely safe until we finally reached treeline and headed over to the Greenleaf Hut. We took off our crampons there and headed down the Old Bridle Path at about 2:30 p.m.
We didn’t have any trouble bare booting down the trail and got a few glissades in, though there are a few too many rocks to make OBP a good sliding trail. About a half-mile down snow flurries started, which turned to freezing rain as we descended down the trail. We reached the parking lot at 4:30 p.m. after a long day of hiking.
Lincoln and Lafayette were my 7th and 8th winter peaks and Pedxing’s 5th and 6th. Pictures from the day are here
- Ivy
While it was a little cooler than on Saturday, the day was just gorgeous with plenty of sun shine popping through the trees as we headed up the Falling Waters Trail. Dry Brook was iced over and we had no trouble walking across, though the ice had that scary hollow sound, there was no creaking or popping. The trail was well packed with a good crust on top of it. However, there were plenty of icy patches, so we decided to put on the crampons at the base of Stairs Falls just to be safe.
Pedxing was very patient with my picture taking as I took shots of all the beautiful waterfalls. Cloudland Falls was definitely the prettiest with a snowy arc around the rushing water. Even more beautiful were huge icicles hanging over boulders at the side of the waterfall. With crampons on, we had little difficulty on the icy trail, though our pace was somewhat slow. Perhaps the busy weekend had drained me more than I thought, because I was walking slow even for me and Pedxing waited for me several times to catch up. The trail seemed much steeper than the last time I hiked it, that’s for sure!
We stopped just below treeline to put on an extra layer of clothing, noting that there was an occasional gust of wind. We reached the top of Little Haystack at about noon to find that the clouds were far above the peaks and were not dark. The views were just incredible. I could see snow-covered ski slopes behind the Kinsmans and Cannon (which I am thinking must have been Vermont) and snow-covered Mount Washington glowing behind the Pemi.
Enjoying the views, we headed up Mt. Lincoln, glad to have crampons for hiking along the icy ridge. As we crossed over the summit, the gusts of wind started to pick up a bit so we quickly headed for Lafayette without stopping. After three-quarters of the way up Lafayette, the wind became so steady and strong that I occasionally had to stop walking to steady myself. Despite wearing a balaclava and a wool hat, my left ear started to get very cold so I hurried on as best I could.
At the summit of Lafayette, we hunkered down behind some rocks for a very short snack break (along with three other hikers and their pup) before hightailing off the mountain as quickly as we could. Descending down the north side of Lafayette was definitely the scary -- we estimated that the wind was blowing at least 50 miles per hour, sometimes straight into our faces and sometimes to our sides as we followed the line of cairns down the Greenleaf Trail. With snow blowing into my face, I stopped to put my goggles on and it felt like my trekking poles would just fly away in the wind if I didn’t have them strapped to my wrist. The wind would occasionally knock me aside, so I would have to take a step or two off the path in order to regain my balance. I didn’t feel completely safe until we finally reached treeline and headed over to the Greenleaf Hut. We took off our crampons there and headed down the Old Bridle Path at about 2:30 p.m.
We didn’t have any trouble bare booting down the trail and got a few glissades in, though there are a few too many rocks to make OBP a good sliding trail. About a half-mile down snow flurries started, which turned to freezing rain as we descended down the trail. We reached the parking lot at 4:30 p.m. after a long day of hiking.
Lincoln and Lafayette were my 7th and 8th winter peaks and Pedxing’s 5th and 6th. Pictures from the day are here
- Ivy
